"My own species concepts have evolved considerably since I moved to
California and began doing field botany (I say "concepts" because I do not
have only one that is broadly applicable). Since there are different
evolutionary and isolating mechanisms at work in different taxa, a
simplistic definition of "what constitutes a species" has yet to be
reached. A room full of taxonomists can get into a bloody brawl on this
topic. Each taxon needs to be assessed in a context that is relevant to
its NATURAL distribution patterns and NATURAL isolating mechanisms. If, in
Saintpaulia, the geographically isolated taxa can be defined on the basis
of suites of morphological characters and there is no natural hybridization
encountered "in the wild," then that should be taken into account. Homo
sapiens (ssp. intoxicans, bibiens, belligerens, or whatever), the ultimate
transporter and tinkerer, has managed to bring together all kinds of
organisms out of their natural settings. The existence of ligers in a zoo
(= lion x tiger) would not negate the validity of treating the parental
taxa as "good" species since the likelihood of them doing hanky-panky in
the wild is virtually nil."
Timothy S. Ross 1996
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Originally Posted by Robinson
